The gaming industry is currently facing an identity crisis, with widespread layoffs, escalating budgets, and a flood of new games hitting the market. In light of these macro trends, game studios and platforms need to find ways to leverage their existing strengths or develop new strategies for long-term success. Ben Feder, Managing Partner at Tirta …

UGC is hot, hot, hot right now. Roblox is on track to pay out half a billion USD to creators - annually - and never has it been more possible for young, individual creators to make a meaningful living as “game developers.” But is Roblox the only place for such creators? HiberWorld, a platform that's empowering anyone to build and share their own 3D…

On August 28th, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a Wells Notice to OpenSea, notifying the largest NFT marketplace that it is under investigation for operating as an unlicensed exchange, labeling the NFTs traded on the platform as securities. Founder & CEO of OpenSea, Devin Finzer, posted that “[t]his is a move into uncharted territory.…

Hasbro is known for iconic properties like Dungeons and Dragons and Monopoly, but is sometimes overlooked as the licensor of incredible video game successes such as Baldur's Gate III and Monopoly Go! In the last 12 months, Hasbro's licensed games have generated a staggering $3.25 billion, making it the largest entertainment IP licensor in video gam…

Today, we explore what it takes to build the next big video game franchise powered by user-generated games. It's a daunting task as Epic Games paid roughly $320 million to creators in the past year in order to incentivize creators to build new experiences on its platform. That's enough money to develop and market a new AAA franchise every year. How…

Animoca has been an unwavering web3 cheerleader since day one, with a stated goal of leveraging blockchain technologies to “deliver digital property rights to consumers around the world and to help to establish the open metaverse.” The company develops and publishes a broad portfolio of both original and licensed IP, and has its finger in about as …

One of the biggest web3 hits of 2022, the horse racing game Pegaxy, generated over $200 million in sales, second only to Axie Infinity during that period. After building heads down during the crypto bear market through the end of the 2023, the company behind Pegaxy, Mirai Labs, is ready to ride again, now with its second game, Petopia, a top-down r…

There are 3B gamers in the world, and many of those players have disabilities. Often called “accessibility” or “adaptive gaming”, this is one of the most important topics (and markets) in the gaming industry. From mobility, visual, and hearing impairments to cognitive and speech impairments, the industry has begun making strides in addressing how w…

Online safety for kids has only become more important over time, and it's become a thorny compliance topic for games teams to wrestle with. Fortunately, talented entrepreneurs are creating solutions that make it easier for games teams (and beyond) to tackle these challenges. To help explore this nuanced topic, host Aaron Bush is joined by Kieran Do…

Voice games have had a quiet history compared to mobile, console, and the PC gaming arena. However, Lightspeed and Microsoft’s M12 Ventures see Volley Games as a leader and game changer in the space, co-leading a $55M Series C on the backs of solid MAU and ARR. Our host, Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, speaks with Max Child, CEO and Co-F…

Mobile gaming is a tough business, but Voodoo has been able to evolve with the times. After years of pioneering hypercasual, the company has more recently set its sights on making casual mobile games with deeper metas and monetization tactics. This pivot sparked major changes across the organization, but it’s already led to major hits – the largest…

Casual word games is a tough, tough category to compete in on mobile. Not only is it a very crowded red ocean, but casual games are notoriously hard to monetize effectively through IAPs, making user acquisition even more difficult than it already is in the post-IDFA world. That said, Funcraft is making it work in their favor, building a thriving, g…

Between Apple’s policy changes and growing government regulations, privacy concerns have sparked a significant shift in AdTech strategies. This episode investigates the potential for privacy-focused ads, exploring how companies are adapting to new regulations while still striving for effective targeting. Host Devin Becker is joined by Geeshan Willi…

Chess is a business that has, without a doubt, been supercharged by linear media and has been booming since COVID-19. As one of the most tactically complex games ever designed, Chess has over 700 years of retention and history. But what is it like to build a chess empire? Chess.com, purchased by Erik Allebest and his co-founder for $55K in 2005, ha…

Major toy companies like Spin Master, Mattel, and Hasbro have all been expanding their influence beyond traditional toys for many years. Spin Master, in particualr, is known for launching popular entertainment properties like PAW Patrol and Bakugan, which have seamlessly transitioned into digital formats in the form of TV series, movies, and video …

China is the second largest video game market in the world, and even though its industry has faced domestic challenges, China’s global impact on gaming continues to rise. However, if you’re an outsider, figuring out what’s happening in China can sometimes be opaque. That’s why host Aaron Bush is joined today by Josh Ye, a long-time reporter for all…

Apex Legends is known for having one of the most “boring” game launches in history in the best of ways. Jokingly called Uptime Legends, Apex pursued a multi-tiered cloud infrastructure that helped EA deliver one of the smoothest PvP launches in history. Sid Dhulipalla, CEO and Co-Founder of Hathora, and Steven Hartland, VP of Engineering at Rocket …

As the world of gaming matures, the influence of content creators is increasingly important. In this episode, host Devin Becker sits down with Justin Sacks, CEO of Nexus, and Bryan Herren, Director of Partnerships for offbrand, to dive into the pivotal role of content creators in shaping the gaming ecosystem. The conversation kicks off with an expl…

Modding has long been a force of innovation and creativity in the games industry, but the emergence of cross-platform, premium mods is set to take modding to another level. Thanks to platforms like Overwolf’s CurseForge, studios and publishers can now enable all sorts of creators — even other professional studios — to build on top of their games an…

The New York Times is one of the world’s most recognized newspapers and has been in circulation since 1851. With 10 million subscribers, the Times has a huge audience and an even larger cultural impact. But the Gray Lady isn’t content to just rest on her laurels and focus on news - other verticals in which the Times operates are product reviews (Th…

Quality assurance is one of the most crucial aspects of game development to ensure the game functions as intended and to provide a positive player experience. Around $300M in funding has been directed towards AI “efficiency tools for creators” and Christoffer Holmgard, Founder of Modl.AI, and Nathan Martz, Founder of Agentic, are pushing the fronti…

Yuga Labs, the heavyweight behind some of the biggest Web3 IP, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and Meebits, made its first foray into games just over a year ago with its toilet-themed infinite runner, Dookey Dash. Now Yuga is here with a sequel called Dookey Dash: Unclogged, and there are a lot of innovations from the original - the mo…

Krafton is one of the world’s premier video game publishers. After experiencing the explosive success of PUBG in the late 2010s, Krafton rebranded in 2018, went public in 2021, and has since been working to not just extend the PUBG brand to new games, platforms, and regions but also kickstart new IPs with innovative playstyles and partner with emer…

Roblox is approaching 350M monthly active users. It’s a platform that generated $3.3B in bookings last year and paid $740M to its developers and creators. The low barriers to entry for developers and immediate access to an audience of 350M players has made it an appealing proposition for indie developers. According to Roblox’s most recent estimate,…

In an era of games where the financing sources are slim and marketing and community can make or break your game launch, your host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, welcomes Tim Morten and Cara LaForge, CEO and Director of Business Operations respectively at Frost Giant Studios, to discuss their experiences in running a widely successful cr…

Guild of Guardians is Immutable’s second major game after Gods Unchained, and is one of the most anticipated web3 games of 2024 - Immutable has called it their new “flagship game” and has been preparing for a global May 15th launch. After starting out as a real-time RPG, the game pivoted to a more casual auto-battler 15 months ago, driven by Gods U…

In the dynamic landscape of gaming, the fusion of cutting-edge financial technology and innovative incentives is shaping a new era of player acquisition and engagement. Host Devin Becker leads an insightful discussion with Ben Cousens, Chief Strategy Officer of ZBD, and Paul West, Founder of Fumb Games, on the transformative power of Bitcoin reward…

A new era of game developer has arrived to shake up narrative game making. In this episode, host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, welcomes Emily Pitcher, founder of Sondering, and Karla Reyes, founder of Anima Interactive, two Forbes 30 under 30 game developers focused on narrative innovation and socially conscious storytelling. The discu…

Nyan Heroes is a team-based hero shooter featuring small cats piloting giant mechs. The studio was founded in Singapore in 2021 and is staffed by industry veterans from hit franchises like Marvel’s Avengers, Destiny, and Halo. Combining web3 and web2 elements, the game aspires to competitive gameplay and has already secured partnerships with top na…

What does it take to stand out and succeed as a games industry entrepreneur these days? And how should smart venture capitalists best identify and work with these best founders? To help answer these questions, host Aaron Bush is joined by David Kaye, serial entrepreneur and general partner of F4 Fund. We discuss why David believes 99% of games stud…

Epic Games paid $320 million to over 25,000 creators in the last 12 months and during that time saw UGC content capture a whopping 35% of total Fortnite engagement. That means there are over 1 million players engaging in UGC content on Fortnite during peak hours. With other top franchises like GTA and The Sims currently working to build out their o…

TikTok is undeniably changing the game for game developers and creating a new marketing and distribution playbook across mobile, console, and PC. In this discussion, Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, speaks with Assaf Sagy, Head of Global Gaming at TikTok, and Rema Vasan, Head of Global Gaming Marketing at TikTok, about the impact TikTok h…

In the ever-evolving world of gaming, understanding and managing player interactions through technology is becoming increasingly critical. Host Devin Becker sits down with Solomon-Ruiz Lichter, Senior Director of Global Gaming at CleverTap, to delve into segmenting players, crafting personalized offers, and fostering a more engaging gaming environm…

There’s no shortage of conversation around how new technologies are changing the way games are made, but that technological change doesn’t end there. New platforms are also contending for player attention, and where and how games are distributed is all destined to evolve, likely in bigger ways than most people think. We all know about Roblox and UE…

Guild of Guardians, Immutable’s second major game after Gods Unchained, is one of the most anticipated web3 games of 2024. The game recently pivoted from a real-time RPG to an auto-battler, and is set for a May 15th global release. Guild of Guardians is one of the first games on Immutable’s new ZK-EVM blockchain, which Naavik covered in the January…

In this week's Roundtable, the squad takes a deep dive into the unique atmosphere of this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC), marked by a spirit of camaraderie and innovation amidst widespread industry layoffs. We then pivot to discuss the monumental acquisition of data.ai by Sensor Tower, setting the stage for what could become the definitive…

Finding success on Roblox can be very challenging. There are over 20 million experiences created every year, and the play patterns are quite different from their more traditional mobile and console counterparts. That’s why UGC games analyst, David Taylor, sat down with Xiang Shen, the CTO of Century Games, a top 20 mobile publisher and the creators…

After the meteoric rise - and equally meteoric fall - of Axie Infinity, the term “Play-to-Earn” lost much of its cachet, and web3 developers avoided the term throughout the 2022-23 crypto winter. Adjacent concepts such as “Play-and-Earn” or “Play-to-Own” proliferated instead while developers and investors largely ignored the genre, and P2E was effe…

In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the exciting news of a greenlit sequel to the Super Mario Brothers movie, with production once again helmed by Illumination. We speculate on the potential for spinoffs and the broader implications for video game adaptations. The conversation then shifts to Microsoft's landmark recognition of Activisio…

RallyHere builds on the back of years of experience in Live Service, before the term was even coined, as Hi-Rez Studios under the leadership of CEO Stewart Chisam. RallyHere bottles this expertise into a toolset that can provide a huge edge for teams that want to leverage the power of live services in games. Hi-Rez Studios is behind many popular an…

GRID has seen the value of data in esports since 2018 thanks to Founder and CEO Moritz Maurer's direct experience in the scene. Working directly with game developers, GRID is able to surface unmatched competitive game data from some of the biggest games like League of Legends, DotA 2, Valorant, PUBG, and Rainbow 6: Siege. GRID is leveling up the un…

Neopets has always been a metaverse, says Dominic Law, CEO of The World of Neopia. If you were born prior to the 2000s, you’ll remember how much Neopets took the internet world by storm. By 2011, Neopets had 35M unique users, amassed 1 trillion page views, and was responsible for compelling an entire generation of children to internet proficiency a…

In this week's Roundtable, the squad unpacks the seismic impact of Nintendo's legal victory, securing a $2.4M settlement against the Switch emulator Yuzu, a move that has dramatically reshaped the emulation landscape. We then pivot to Netflix's strategic foray into gaming, spotlighting its latest coup in bringing the critically acclaimed indie darl…

Studio369 is preparing to launch MetalCore, an open world player-versus-player mech combat game that combines the engagement of high-quality traditional gaming with true asset ownership via web3. It has been in the works for about three years, with the game expected to hit a closed beta by the end of March and an open beta test by May 2024. It’s be…

The games industry can no longer ignore the MENA region, encompassing markets like Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and more. With approximately 800 million people, a young and growing audience of gamers, expanding wealth, rising ARPUs, and emerging talent, it’s abundantly clear that MENA will be much more important to the games industry’s future …

In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the recent announcement of Age of Empires Mobile, sparking debates on whether it will meet the high expectations of its loyal fanbase or simply blend into the crowded market of 4x strategy games. We then shift gears to discuss the surprising success of Balatro, a poker roguelike game from a solo devel…

Do you believe that XR is the future of modern entertainment? Composed of a blend of AR, MR, VR, and spatial computing, XR is a major frontier for big tech. Meta has spent $40B on Reality Labs, and Apple has launched the world’s first “spatial computer” this past month. But is it a fit for entertainment and games? Join your host, Alexandra Takei, D…

In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the unexpected success of Helldivers 2, PlayStation Studios' first game to launch simultaneously on PlayStation and PC. We then shift gears to Microsoft's Xbox Business Event, which, despite its brevity, sparked a flurry of speculation regarding the company's strategy for porting "exclusives" to PlayS…

It is no secret that web3 gaming had bit of a down year in 2023. Many studios had to shut down, and venture funding was hard to come by. But where some see a valley of despair, others see opportunity. Midnight is scooping up talented web3 studios that have run out of funding in order to go after multiple opportunities at the same time with double A…

Today’s guest is Shanti Bergel, Founding General Partner and Managing Director of Transcend Fund, which has been a top decile performer since the firm was founded in 2020. Shanti is not just on the cutting edge of where the games industry is headed, but he’s also a veteran operator across much of the industry’s decades-long dynamism. In this episod…